Monday liveblog madness: On the floor at Google’s “playground”

Update: With Hurricane Sandy set to make landfall in the northeast US sometime late Monday, Google has canceled the launch event. We're awaiting word on when things will be rescheduled and will keep you all posted on what we hear.

On the morning of Monday, October 29, Ars will be at Basketball City in New York for what is expected to be a big string of announcements from Google. The press flyer for the event proudly proclaims, "The playground is open," and there's a long list of things on the rumor docket for the morning: a new Nexus phone, a new Nexus tablet, and the formal announcement of Android 4.2.

So far, the new phone has been all but confirmed, with UK retailer Carphone Warehouse leaking the specs for the "Nexus 4." The flagship device, manufactured by LG, is expected to be a lightly (if at all) modified version of the Optimus G. If so, this gives the phone an excellent starting pedigree. Its Nexus branding should be a huge added value for customers, too, since it guarantees users won't have to play the waiting game for updates—part of the Nexus brand requirements are that devices remain free of carrier-specific software, and they get updates before branded Android phones.

The setting of the event ties in directly with the "playground" theme of the announcement, and we expect Google will have some fun with the launch. No word yet on whether Sergey or Larry will be available to shoot some hoops, but we will be bringing our A-game just in case—literally our A-game, since Andrew Cunningham will be at the event taking photos (his name starts with the letter "A" and he is one of the tallest people on staff). Additionally, I have it on good authority that Casey Johnston has a set of flaming basketballs tattooed on her biceps and that she will shut down any court, anytime, anywhere.

Lee Hutchinson
Lee is the Senior Technology Editor at Ars and oversees gadget, automotive, IT, and culture content. He also knows stuff about enterprise storage, security, and manned space flight. Lee is based in Houston, TX. Emaillee.hutchinson@arstechnica.com//Twitter@Lee_Ars

I will be paying close attention to the tablet. If it is a 10 inch tablet, quad core tegra 3, micro sd, and hdmi out while being priced right I will jump all over it. But, if it is missing any of those features, I will just purchase an Asus TF300.

This announcement is exactly what Google needs an answer to Apple's recent announced products. Apple should be concerned about this, as some of the supposedly leaked products and features they are showing are total kick-ass, and I wish Google the very best in terms of what's to come for Monday. Go Google!!